Sunday, 21 April 2013

Our teenage Son explains how he 'see's' the 'Portuguese Man-of-war'....."The Borg"...whereby they are of a 'collective intelligence and if any species was 'alien', they most certainly are.

I have to agree with him...to a certain extent "If any one species was to survive, it's these." And not forgetting the 'Seajellies'.

Portuguese man-of-war ~ 'Siphonophore' a species made up of a colony of organisms working together.

The floating purply-blue 'plastic-looking bag' drifts on the motion from the sea's currents, as they have no independant separate way to direct themselves (no propulsion.) And is not an 'it' but a 'they'. Are four separate 'polyps' ::: A gas filled bladder or pneumatophores is the upper part, where they can if under threat....deflate their air bags and for a moment submerge out of danger.

It's tentacles are it's second 'organism' and can extend these long, thin tendrills to a massive 165 feet (50 metres) they average around 30 feet (10 metres.)

The 'Seajellies' venom is totally different from the 'Portuguese man-of-war and must Not have the same medical treatment applied, if stung!

If you are 'stung' by them it wouldn't always be fatel but extremely painful. Never touch a dead, washed-up one, as they can still give out a 'sting'!

Each 'zooid' is so specialised that one aloan couldn't survive, only as a group. Perhaps long ago evolution processes altered it's biological DNA. We are moving into another time of 'change', change of weather patterns, Co2 emissions causing a dramatic alteration in the Sea's chemistry.

Prolonged association between two or more different organisms is called a 'Symbiosis'.

Natural selection is the only known cause of adaptation, those that can 'move-on' and those that can't 'die'.

However changeable species can be, we most certainly can learn from them.

Whereas, 'Seajellies' swim all the time. Their bodies are composed of over 95% water and have been around for possibly 700 million years, making them the oldest multi-organ animal.